Session 1 Warm-up Vocabulary Ask some quick questions to review comparative adjectives and adverbs. For example: 1. What do you like better, apples or oranges? 2. Who is taller, or? 3. Who comes to school earlier, or? Introduce the new vocabulary. a. Watch Words to Know, stopping to give examples, clarify, and put the words in a meaningful context. b. Do an Open Word Sort with the new vocabulary words. Write the words on the board, or prepare enough small sets of the words (or have students prepare them) so that each pair has a set. Partners work together to sort them into any categories that make sense to them. When they have finished, students explain their categories to the rest of the class. Grammar superlative superlative the farthest. a. Watch Facts to Know and explain the difference between the forms est and most + adjective. Review the spelling of the adjectives. Introduce the irregular forms: the best, the worst, b. Hand out the superlative charts (below). Students write the superlative form of the adjectives and adverbs in the correct columns. When they have finished, ask for some sentences using the superlatives, so students can practice both the adjective and adverb forms. You can also drill the three forms of each of the adjectives (hot-hotter-hottest). Adjectives: hot, busy, careful, quiet, wonderful, bad, shy, far Adverbs: fast, quickly, badly, early, noisily, carefully, far
Session 1 (cont.) Superlative Adjectives The -est The Most Both Forms (the -est OR the most) the newest the most interesting the friendliest, the most friendly Irregular the best Superlative Adverbs The -est The Most Irregular the latest the most politely the best
Session 1 (cont.) Movie 1. Bring in a book of world records or an almanac, if you have one. Share some examples with the class. 2. Students watch the movie. Practice Discussion Game Students work on specified features from this lesson, such as Words Words Words or Hear It, Say It. What is the longest day in the year? (June 21st). Discuss how days get longer in the summer. June 21st is the longest day and shortest night for half the world. It s the longest night and the shortest day for the other half of the world. Elicit the difference between longer/ shorter and longest/shortest. a. Hand out a card with one part of the superlative to each student. b. Spread out cards with nouns on your desk. Cards should be face up. c. Procedure: 1. Students find partners to form the superlative (2 or 3 partners) 2. Partners come to the front desk and find an appropriate noun for their superlative combination. 3. Partners make up a sentence. 4. The first group/partners with a completed sentence wins. Stop the game when 4 groups have a completed sentence. Cards: the (20) / most (4) Adjectives: strongest / fastest / most beautiful / most interesting / heaviest / tastiest / best / worst / greatest / most important / tallest / shortest / most polite / most famous / slowest / easiest / oldest / warmest / funniest / friendliest Nouns: cousin / book / movie / train / day / student / uncle / box / pizza / friend / test / information / boy / movie star / way / woman / story / bus / place / birthday party
Session 1 (cont.) Homework A. Find the words and circle them. 1. a t h l e t e l a e p h a n t b r e a t h i g h 2. f a r e c o r d k I o g r a m e t e r f e e t 3. w e i g h i g h l e m o n s n a k e 4. c o p a r e d t o f o o t f a r w e i g h B. Choose any seven words from excercise A and write sentences with them. Sum-up Which word doesn t belong? Make sure they know the reasons why. 1. kilogram / pound / heavy / meter 2. fast / high / jump / far 3. elephant / snake / dog / cat 4. often / easy / difficult / heavy 5. feet / hands / head / legs 6. athlete / meter / swimmer / dancer 7. best / highest / worst / farthest 8. lemon / lemonade / orange / apple 9. feet / inches / meters / pounds
Session 2 Check Homework Check the homework assignment. Warm-up 1. Call on volunteers to use pantomime for the new words. Students guess the words. 2. Have the following sentences on the board. Ask students to come fill in the answers with the superlative form of the adjectives. nice / difficult / cold / good / happy a. This is day of the year. b. My birthday is day for me. c. She is my friend. We spend many hours together. d. He is man in the world. He s so good to everyone. e. This is problem. I don t know how to solve it. Vocabulary Explain that there are two systems of measurement: US standard measurement and the metric system. As you explain the metric terms, show that it s a system based on units of ten. Point out the abbreviations. Use a ruler or tape measure to show equivalents. Some common units of measurement are: US inch (in. / ) foot/feet (ft. / ) mile (mi.) pound (lb.) Metric centimeter (cm) meter (m) kilometer (km) kilogram (kg)
Session 2 (cont.) Movie 1. Watch the movie again. Students write down examples of the superlative and noun that they hear in the movie. (the heaviest lemon / the least favorite fruit / the tallest, the longest, the fastest, the smallest, the shortest / the biggest cake, onion / the worst stomachache, breath / the best athlete / the fastest runner / the highest jump / the farthest swimmer) 2. After the movie, ask the following questions: a. What s Ben s favorite drink? What s yours? b. What s Ben s least favorite fruit? What s yours? What s your favorite fruit? c. What is a world record? d. Can you remember a world record from the movie? Practice Game Students work on features from this lesson. Class Records A. As a class or in small groups, students discuss the answers to the following (they may add any other ideas they think of): Who has the longest hair / the heaviest backpack / the biggest family / the most pets / is the best athlete / is the tallest / is the oldest or youngest / lives the farthest from school / runs the fastest / arrives at school the earliest / reads the most books / can hold his/her breath the longest? B. Bring rulers to class, preferably the ones that show both metric and US standard measurement. In groups, students measure and compare the length of their hair, arms, fingers, shoe size, books, pencils, etc. They can write comparative and superlative sentences to describe their findings. Each student shares one fact with the class.
Session 2 (cont.) Homework A: Are the following sentences TRUE or FALSE? Circle TRUE or FALSE, and correct the false sentences. 1. The elephant is the smallest mammal in the world. TRUE / FALSE 2. The longest cat is 31 feet and 10 inches long. TRUE / FALSE 3. The prettiest lemon weighs 12 pounds. TRUE / FALSE 4. In our country, June 21st is the longest night. TRUE / FALSE 5. Moby is Ben s best friend. TRUE / FALSE B: Answer the questions. 1. What is a world record? 2. Which is heavier, a pound or a kilogram? 3. Which is longer, a meter or a foot? C. Look on the Internet or in a book of world records. Find two examples of superlatives. Write them in your notebook and share with the class tomorrow. For example: the tallest building in the world, the person who ate the most eggs, etc. Sum-up A. What is the opposite of: 1. the longest 6. the heaviest 2. the most beautiful 7. the fastest 3. the most 8. the biggest 4. the nearest 9. the best 5. the easiest 10. the last B. Think of a famous athlete. Ask if they can explain why he/she is famous, using a superlative sentence.
Session 3 Warm-up Make flashcards of the units of measurement and their abbreviations. Have the following categories on the board: to measure how far to measure how heavy to measure how long to measure how high Flashcards: inch, foot, mile, centimeter, meter, kilometer, pound, kilogram, in., ft., mi., cm, m, km, lb., kg,,. Students place the flashcards in the appropriate columns. Point out that the US abbreviations all have periods. The metric abbreviations do not. Homework Reading Check the three homework assignments 1. Introduce the reading passage. Bring in a picture of the Olympic flag. Ask if anyone knows what it is. Tell the class that the reading passage is about the Olympic Games. Can they guess how the topic is connected to superlatives? 2. Do a K-W-L chart. One can be found in the Materials Provided section of the Lesson Overview. Before reading the passage, ask pairs to fill in the K column (what they Know) with any facts they know about the Olympics. 3. Call on students and fill in the K column with the class. 4. Now ask pairs to fill in the W column (what they Want to know) about the Olympic Games. 5. Call on students and fill in the W part with the class. 6. Now ask pairs to read the passage and write down three new facts they learned about the Olympics in the L column (what I Learned). 7. Together fill in the L column with different facts the students have learned from their first reading. 8. Students read the passage again and answer the comprehension questions. 9. Together, look at the K-W-L chart on the board. Is there anything they would like to add to the chart?
Session 3 (cont.) Practice Print out the reading passage in Read It. Students must go through the passage and: circle all examples with -est; underline all examples with the most; and highlight all irregular examples. Writing The writing assignment is to write a compare / contrast essay about sports. Students can use the Compare / Contrast Graphic Organizer to write their essays. This is found in the Materials Provided section of the Lesson Overview. They may also want to refer to the Compare / Contrast Matrix and Word Bank. Procedure: a. Start the assignment together with the class. Set up the Compare / Contrast Matrix comparing the ancient and modern Olympics. See the sample matrix following the lesson plan. Students may use the topics provided, or any other ideas that they have. b. Using the matrix, students put sentences together on the Compare / Contrast Graphic Organizer. They must use both comparatives and superlatives in the essay. Think of a good topic sentence for the introduction. Make sentences with three details in the middle paragraph, using information they wrote in the matrix. Write a conclusion for the last paragraph. Compare / Contrast Matrix Sport 1 Sport 2 Is it a team sport? How many players? Do they use a ball? Compare / Contrast Word Bank Compare the same as like similar also Contrast different than unlike but although on the other hand while
Session 3 (cont.) Homework Complete the writing assignment in Write It. Use comparatives and superlatives in the essay. Sum-up 1. What happened in: 2800 years ago / in 393 / for 1500 years / in 1894 / in 1896? 2. What happened: Athens / Olympia / France?